'A twelvemonth and a day' by Christopher Rush

'A twelvemonth and a day' was first published in 1985 and is a
semi-autobiographical account of the first 12 years of a boy's
life. It is about the golden days before experience imposes itself
and limits exploration of the world.

A love song and lament

In the book Rush writes of a youth spent in the fields and on
the shore deciphering the kirkyard graves or listening to eerie
tales of the sea. It has been called a love song and lament for the
vanished 'slow old tuneful times' of life in the fishing villages
in the East Neuk of Fife. In 1988 it was also made into a
successful film, 'Venus Peter' with the screenplay co-written by
Rush.

Insight into the author's writing process

This resource looks at sources in the Rush archive, video
interviews with the author and related items. They provide an
insight into his writing and a glimpse into the vanished way of
life he portrays in the book.

Source 1 looks at how important the location or setting is to
the story. Sources 2-4 examine the author's writing process in
selected chapters. Source 5 looks at how the work was received
after publication. Source 6 looks at different interpretations of
the subject matter through film and other mediums. Source 7 looks
at the role of creativity and imagination in the author's work.

Summary of the book

This synopsis has been taken from the Penguin edition: 'In
childhood there is no distinction between boy, bird, mammal or
fish. 'A twelvemonth and a day' is about change and growth, the
fluctuating patterns in the worklife of a fishing and farming
community throughout the cycle of a year, and about the year
itself, the life of nature. It tells of how that symbolic
year-and-a-day can be destroyed by forces we cannot seem to control
— ignorance and greed, profit and loss, the wider forces of
politics that damage communities and individuals. It is both a
lament for a past time and a celebration of its vanished
values.'

Writing style

The book has been described as having 'a lyricism that relies on
a degree of alliteration which is more associated with an oral
tradition often found in myth'.

Many seafaring epics and tales have a long tradition of grand
mythic scenes and characters. It could be said that Rush is also
trying to create larger than life myths around his characters.

As you browse through these pages, you can get a sense of how
the author has attempted to achieve this.